


Embers

by the_genderman



Series: The Firebird Suite [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Animal Transformation, Captain America: The First Avenger, Crack, Gen, Project Rebirth, perhaps a little too literally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 06:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_genderman/pseuds/the_genderman
Summary: From the ashes of Krausberg, a hero is reborn. Or, when Steve accidentally took “Project Rebirth” a little too literally.





	Embers

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, I’m attempting French in this fic. I am currently doing French in Duolingo, but it’s certainly not the same as being a native speaker. I _think_ the French parts are grammatical, but if there are errors, that’s why.
> 
> In this ‘verse, phoenixes are a (rare and rather magical) species of pheasant. They are roughly the size of a peacock but a more normal pheasant tail and not the fan/train that peacocks have.
> 
> Also, how does anyone decide on first names/last names for the commandos? It all feels weird, but mixed is the one that least makes me want to burn my entire writing “portfolio.”

_Well, here goes nothing_ , Steve thought as he took a running leap, hoping beyond hope that he’d have enough momentum to make it across the gap.

Another explosion, the fire flared up. As the heat enveloped him, he squeezed his eyes shut and let the concussion of the blast throw him forward. As it lifted him, he felt himself suddenly lighter; an illusion, for sure, but maybe if he believed hard enough, it would be enough to get him to that railing. He flailed his arms, opened his eyes, and suddenly the railing was right in front of him. He tucked his limbs in so he wouldn’t hit the rail, crashed into the catwalk, rolling over and over, and finally coming to a stop on his back. He looked up at Bucky.

Bucky’s face was simultaneously confused, fascinated, and a little scared. “Steve?” he asked tentatively.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Steve said. Or tried to say. What actually came out was a noise like a rooster being strangled.

“Steve, if I’m hallucinating, you gotta tell me,” Bucky said, frozen in place.

Steve got to his feet. And found himself looking Bucky right in the kneecaps. Well. This was… unusual. He was up on his feet, right? It certainly felt like it. He glanced down and instead of seeing his boots, his eyes met a pair of scaly, gray, four-toed feet. Like chicken feet, complete with spurs. He jumped back, startled, and squawked again. 

Another explosion rocked the catwalk and brought him and Bucky out of their shared reverie. 

“Look, Steve, this is all really fascinating, but we’ve gotta go. Can you, um, fly? Because I don’t think you’re getting this same picture I am, but you look like a giant fucking chicken from where I’m standing.

Steve turned his head over his shoulders and, yep, those were wings. He stretched his arms—wings—and flapped. He bounced into the air and flew about five feet before landing again with a ruffle of feathers. Well, this was gonna take a little practice. Wasn’t like he’d ever been a _bird_ before. He gave a frustrated cluck.

“Ok, how about this? I pick you up and carry you out. You can figure this whole flying thing out later.”

Steve nodded.

“Good,” Bucky said quickly, stooping to pick Steve up. 

This was somehow not even the most awkward instance of Bucky having to carry him out of danger. He stared at his own, very avian, feet, poking up into the air in front of him, as Bucky ran for the closest exit.

\-------------------------

“Barnes? Is that you?” the man with the bowler hat said, popping out of the hatch of the stolen HYDRA tank Bucky had just passed.

Bucky turned to look. Steve, on his shoulder, turned with him. “Dum Dum?” Bucky said, relief in his voice. 

“We thought you were dead! How’d you get out?” Dum Dum asked. “But more importantly, where’d you get that bird and why?”

“Long story,” Bucky said, shaking his head with a smile. “I’ll tell you when we make camp tonight.”

“We’re all here, somewhere, and we’re all eager to hear it,” Dum Dum said, gave a quick salute, and dropped back down into the tank. 

Steve cocked his head quizzically.

“Don’t worry, I’ll introduce you all,” Bucky replied. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt if you could figure out how to be _human_ again, but if you gotta be a bird when we do it, we’ll make do.”

Steve clucked softly.

“Look, I don’t understand it either, but you don’t gotta sass me,” Bucky said, reaching up to poke Steve in the chest. “And don’t tell me you’re not sassing me, Steve. I _know_ you. I can hear sass in any language you might choose to speak.”

\--------------------

“Alright Barnes, time to explain the bird,” Dum Dum said, carrying an armload of rations from one of the seized HYDRA transport trucks. He set the packets down on the relatively flat rock their motley crew had deemed an acceptable table. Steve scratched at the leaf litter on the forest floor until he had made a suitably comfortable depression. He tucked his feet under him, fluffed his feathers, looked around, and settled into the scrape.

“Oh, that’s Steve,” Bucky said, poking at the campfire. “Steve, these are the guys,” he added, proceeding around the circle to introduce everyone.

“You named the bird Steve?” Gabe asked, raising one eyebrow.

“No, his mama named him Steve,” Bucky laughed. “I mean, he looks a little different now, but this is the same Steve I’ve been telling you guys about. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

Steve looked up from his scrape and gave a single, deadpan cluck. 

“Alright, that’s… something,” Gabe replied. “So, how the hell did Steve end up _here_ with you?”

“That I can’t really explain,” Bucky said. “ _He_ said he joined the Army and that’s how he got there. All _I_ know is one minute I was on that table, the next minute Steve’s breaking me out and we’re making a run for it. Except he was human for that. Most of the time. I don’t know. There was a lot going on. The place started blowing up, I thought we were both gonna die, and suddenly he’s this big-ass chicken.”

Steve gave a disapproving cluck and fluffed again.

“Or pheasant or whatever you are,” Bucky said, turning to address Steve directly.

“Je pense qu’il est un phénix,” Dernier suggested.

“A little slower there, Frenchie? Kinda sounded like you said ‘phoenix’,” Dum Dum interjected.

“He did. He said ‘I think he’s a phoenix’,” Gabe translated.

“Quand j’étais petit, j’ai vu un phénix,” Dernier continued. “Ce phénix était plus doré que lui, mais il ressemble fortement à un phénix en forme.”

Dum Dum blinked, trying to figure out how many of those words he could translate. “Ok, that’s nice. So we’ve established he’s a phoenix, I think, but that still doesn’t explain how your pal Steve ended up looking like someone turned Old Glory into a bird.”

“Yeah, I’d love to know, too,” Bucky replied. “And I might regret saying this, but I kinda miss the days when he’d chat my ear off about painting or politics or whatever. When I actually _need_ him to explain what the hell he’s gotten himself into, all he can do is cluck.”

Steve made the strangled rooster noise again to prove he could do more than just cluck.

“I think I prefer the clucking,” Morita said, sticking his finger in his ear and giving it a wiggle. “Whoever said phoenixes could sing was dead wrong.”

“Well, Steve’s always been tone-deaf, so maybe we can give that a pass,” Bucky said. “But on a more serious note, Steve, you need to stop being a smart-ass and figure out how to get back human again.”

Steve fluffed up his feathers and gave a shake, fixing Bucky with a beady glare that seemed to say “What do you _think_ I’ve been trying to do?”

“If he’s a phoenix, perhaps he needs to light himself on fire?” Falsworth suggested.

“Yeah, ok, that’s reasonable. Steve, as soon as we finish cooking dinner, how about you try that?” Bucky asked.

“Bok,” Steve replied.

\------------

“How’s this for motivation? If you don’t figure out how to be human again, you can’t have this dried sausage or this lovely cup of instant coffee substitute?” Bucky said to Steve, pointing half a sausage at him.

“I thought we were trying to convince him to change back?” Gabe laughed. “If it meant not having to eat German field rations, _I’d_ turn into a bird, too.”

“Alright, that’s the last of the coffee,” Morita announced, taking the pan off the fire and pouring the last cup, to be saved for Steve if and when he returned to being human again. “Steve, fire’s all yours.”

Steve stared at the fire for a moment then looked back up at Bucky.

“Well, have you figured out how to change back otherwise? No? Look, Steve, this is the best suggestion we’ve got, and it’s going to be hell to explain to your superiors that you turned into a _bird_ if we get back to Allied territory and you’ve still got feathers,” Bucky argued back.

Steve fluffed again, stretched his neck out, and gave a quiet, strained “Wuuurp.” He looked at the fire again, sighed, and poked one foot tentatively into the flames. Finding it more ‘comfortably warm’ than ‘oh God I’m on fire!’ he sat down in the middle of the small campfire, scattering embers with a whoosh.

Nothing happened. Steve made an angry strangled-rooster sound and gave a violent fluff-shake. 

And promptly gave a brief flare of flames which receded, leaving him sitting in the middle of the now-extinguished fire in a somewhat sooty suit and looking very human. “What the hell just happened?” he asked as soon as he figured out how lips worked again.

“No idea, but at least you kept your clothes on,” Bucky teased. “Good to have you back, Steve.”

**Author's Note:**

> Steve does eventually get a better hang of being a phoenix. And transforming without having to set himself on fire.
> 
> Edit, 27MAY18: I forgot to translate “Quand j’étais petit, j’ai vu un phénix,” Dernier continued. “Ce phénix était plus doré que lui, mais il ressemble fortement à un phénix en forme.” It means (roughly) "When I was little, I saw a phoenix. That phoenix was more golden than him but he strongly resembles a phoenix in form."


End file.
